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Ideas: Lock for creating new stations on Alexa & Google

Ideas: Lock for creating new stations on Alexa & Google

m_alvare5
Underground
Status: Open Ideas

Hi everyone.  I'm super annoyed with Alexa creating a new station everytime it misunderstands what we requested.  It creates dozens of new stations every week and adds it to My Collection.  We need a way to prevent this behavior.  Maybe a lock mechanism where you need a three digit pin number to create a new station, that way Alexa or the kids won't create stations I don't want.

Moderator Edit: Changing title for clarity

Labels (2)
156 Comments
sae
Local Performer

Me: Alexa, play Wildcat Radio on pandora. (This is one of my regular, favorite, well-trained stations)

Alexa: Wildcat…Wildcat! Radio from Sabrina’s Pandora

(music starts that definitely is not my station music)

Me: Alexa, stop.

(Alexa stops)

Me: Alexa, play Wildcat Radio on pandora. 

Alexa: Wildcat…Wildcat! Radio from Sabrina’s Pandora

(music starts that definitely is not my station music)

Me: Alexa, stop.

(Alexa stops)

Me: (now enunciating like a crazy person) Alexa, play WILDCAT RADIO on pandora. 

Alexa: Wildcat…Wildcat! Radio from Sabrina’s Pandora

(music starts that definitely is not my station music)

Me: Alexa, WT-? No! Stop! What station even is that? Come on!

(I bring up the pandora app on my phone and see a station I never made called "Wildcat! Wildcat!" is now in my station list. I grumble and delete it.) 

Me: ALEXA. PLAY. WILDCAT. RADIO. ON. PANDORA.

Alexa: Wildcat…Wildcat! Radio from Sabrina’s Pandora

(music starts that definitely is not my station music)

Me: No! No! STOP! Alexa, STOP!

(I go back to the pandora app- I don’t see the station Wildcat! Wildcat! Suspicious, I shut down the app and restart it. Sure enough, upon restart, there at the top of my collections list is the unrequested, unwanted, and vexing auto-generated Wildcat! Wildcat! Station. I delete it.)

Me: Alexa, play NPR.

(At this point, the news is more relaxing than this and at least that request works as expected.)

this is me almost every day now. The station names may vary. It's not just wildcats.

Please please please fix this. It’s  terrible. Not only does it junk up your station list, when it happens it means pandora also isn’t playing the station you actually want. This creates a negative emotion every time you use pandora. Who wants to fight with the Alexa voice every morning? I have felt the urge to rage quit pandora because of this nonsense. And then I feel ridiculous for getting mad over such a small thing. But it’s also such a stupid stupid feature and creates so much friction over the most basic request- playing your desired pandora station. Please folks, save your paying customers’ sanity and dignity- give this a fix! 🙏

 

 

dmichaux
Local Performer

Adding a vote; Please do this! Explicit filters (like on Pandora and Amazon music) only filter certain words. But my 7 year old can still listen to songs from bands like Disturbed and System of a Down. He doesn't need that in his brain! If I can block him from creating new stations then I can actually curate out the stuff he's not old enough for. Please please make this feature.

Ash65465
Local Performer

If I ask Google to play a song, it will automatically add a whole station to my collection when I had no desire for it to do that.

We need options to control which permissions Google (and others) has with our account. 

I want to be able to continue to be able to ask Google by voice to turn on my Pandora account or play a song without having it automatically create a new station.

bmyers
Local Performer

Support this idea. A station creation lock would be awesome. Just make it a toggle just like the explicit filter, when on no new stations can be created.

-Brian

mfitting
Local Performer

PLEASE resolve this issue! It is ridiculously inconvenient to eliminate the 25 stations that have been unintentionally created each week by various members of my family. Typically a station is created when a specific song, that is not in the amazon music library, is requested. Alexa attempts to appease the requester by offering up a station that it believes is similar to the song desired. Suggested solutions or features:

  • Disable auto station creation
  • Ask if station creation is desired
  • Ability to delete more than one station at a time

 

mcline
Local Performer

Awful user experience, makes me angry any time I hear music.  I delete monthly, so unlike the weekly deleters I have to devote the entire evening to correcting this oversight.

TheJHG
Local Performer

Over 3 years and 15 pages of comments on this request and it's still an issue. As a software engineer who helps ship fixes/features every WEEK in a complex 3D Sim... gotta wonder, whatcha been up to Pandora? 😆

robross0606
Opening Act

What they've been "up to" is not caring in the slightest about their customers using integrations (Alexa, Google, Apple, etc.).  They very clearly do not care and will continue to not care until/unless people start cancelling subscriptions because of it.

cs0127
Local Performer

This has been going on for years - simply do not create a station on pandora unless someone uses a computer.  I used to love pandora but now am thinking about disabling pandora and shifting to amazon music this has become too annoying!

LordGenesis
Underground

Why hasn't this been addressed? I love Pandora but Alexa keeps making new stations and should be prevented from doing so.